Sunday, March 31, 2013

What are you doing today? Celebrating Easter with friends and family? Having a lazy Sunday afternoon? Watching the Texas Rangers opening day and listening to your husband yell at the TV like it's the World Series?

Reading: Blogs. Sunday is typically a pretty relaxing day filled with reading blogs and watching TV. Maybe grilling burgers and hotdogs if the weather keeps up!

Writing: This blog post and about to start on an email to send to my wonderful new sponsors!

Listening: To the Texas Rangers play their first game of the season. Also to my husband who is beyond excited and is talking to the players.

Thinking: That I am ready to share my Cara Box reveal post with y'all, my husband did something sweet and I want to brag on him.

Friday, March 29, 2013

For the purpose of this post, those people roughly translates into those of you who are "no reply bloggers". I know. You have probably heard that term a hundred times.

Wanna know something scary? You might not even know that you are a no reply blogger!

Yep. Girl, I am serious!

When I first started blogging I had no idea I was one of the most dreaded things to be in the blogger world. Also, if you are a newer blogger, you might not even know what these words mean. So let me explain...

When you go to another bloggers post and leave a sweet comment, that blogger usually wants to reply to your comment to let you now how much they appreciated it or to answer a question you might have asked. If you are a no reply blogger this means that people aren't able to reply to your comments.This also means that you miss out on getting your questions answered and on hearing back from that blogger you left such a sweet comment for. Basically, it's a crappy situation for both you and the blogger who is wanting to respond.

So, how do you fix this problem?

Easy!

Step 1.

From your blog, click on design at the top right.

Step 2.

From the drop down menu in the top right corner {the arrow by your name}, select Blogger Profile.

Step 3.

Now you should be at the page with your main picture on the left, and the blogs that you follow listed. On the top right, there should be a button that says Edit Profile. Click on that bad boy.

Step 4.

Now you should be at the Edit User Profile page. At the top of the page it should say Privacy. Then underneath privacy there will be an option that says, "show my email address". Select that box! This fixes your no reply problem!

Told you it was easy! Now you should start getting replies in your email which makes it so much easier to connect with other bloggers.

You'll thank me for this! : )

If you have any questions please ask!

Ps. On an unrelated note, I have several medium ad spaces left for April if you are wanting to advertise! It will start April 1st {2 days!} and is a whopping $4!

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Melissa at Lulu and Sweet Pea hosts a link up called Things I {don't} love and it sounded fun, so I am linking up this week!

1. Having to eat your words. So, remember this post? Yep, yesterdays post. Well, I was wrong. And I am embarrassed. No, I didn't post that and then my package showed up at my door, although that would be my luck, and probably a better story. What did happen though, was that A finally emailed me back and said she had sent my package on the 25th. It was supposed to be sent out by the 20th and since I had never heard from her I assumed {now I believe that to assume makes an ass out of you and me...get it? Ok} that she was not sending anything. So I am sorry to A and to you guys for making you temporarily hate on this mysterious A. I'm pretty sure she doesn't follow or read my blog (another reason I thought she wasn't sending anything) but that was how I was feeling so that's what got posted. Please forgive me?

2. Being on a budget. Once Garrett graduated with his MBA and found a job, we started a budget. We keep up with all of our income as well as expenses. We have to start paying back school loans in May, and let me tell ya it won't be cheap! The University of Denver is an expensive place to learn. Anywho, having a budget has seriously cut down on random shopping sprees, which I miss.

3. Justin Timberlake's new album and hair. Y'all, I am sorry but I'm not into it. Yeah, I like Suit and Tie but I'm not digging the whole album. I do think he's hot, minus the hair.

4. Living 11+ hours away from friends and family. I love Denver and all but this not seeing friends and family except on holidays thing is for the birds. Making new friends as an adult is difficult, I just want my old friends to move here. Same with my family and Garrett's. I can't imagine still living here when we have kids, that'll be even harder. Hopefully things will work themselves out by then.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

Maybe you read the title of this blog and thought it was going to be something pretty serious. Like Garrett screwed up and has to sleep on the couch tonight. Nope. If you did, I am sorry.

Why am I feeling let down?

Because I signed up to participate in the Cara Box Exchange and my partner did not participate.

The idea is that you are matched with two people. One of those two sends you a package, and you send a package to the other person. There is a theme given at the beginning of the month so you know what to buy for the package.

This month the theme was things starting with the first letter of your partners first name. I sent to a girl named Whitney {oh hey nice name!}. If you want to see what I sent her go here!

My other partner, we will call her A, was supposed to send me a package of "W" things. But she didn't. I don't understand why she didn't because we emailed back and forth a couple of times, she asked me a couple of questions to see what things I might like, and then I never heard from her again. Even after I emailed her giving her my address {that she never asked for}. I should've known then that I wasn't getting anything!

It is now the 27th, I am supposed to be writing a Cara Box reveal to link up at Wifessional's. But, I have nothing to reveal. Yes, I am a little bitter about this.

Note: I am in no way dissing this program, as a matter of fact I signed up to participate again next month and I am really excited about it! Alot of girls participate and as far as I know, I am the only one who's partner decided to crap out. If you like getting packages in the mail and sending packages to a new blog friend, sign up!

Just please don't sign up if you aren't going to follow through with it!

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Kelly over at Sparkles and Shoes did an All About Me from A to Z post about a week ago and when I commented on her post, she encouraged me to do my own. Her blog is full of fun fashion ideas and she just participated in The Messy Project. What I am trying to say is that her blog is a fun read so go check her out!

Kelly, thanks for encouraging me to do my own A to Z post!

So here goes...

A = Available or Married?

Married. To the love of my life. My high school sweetheart. My soul mate. Ok, you get the picture. Check out our love story or read about our destination wedding here.

B = Book?

Two words- Gone Girl. If you haven't read it, go get it today! As of right now, it is my favorite book.

C = Cake or Pie?

As much as I love both, I have to go with pie. Pie is my favorite dessert, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

D = Drink of choice?

Coke. Always.

I also love sweet tea, skim milk, and ice cold water. As far as alcoholic drinks go, I am a sucker for any fruity drink. Blue Hawaiian? Yes please.

E = Essential start to your day?

Folgers in my cup! Just kidding. Getting enough sleep and being able to pee first thing in the morning.

F = Favorite Color

Cobalt blue.

G = Game to play or watch?

Play- Settlers of Catan Watch- Football

H = Height?

5'11. Yep, I'm taller than pretty much all of my friends. And I have a hard time finding pants that are long enough. Just so you know..

You might remember that I linked up with Helene last Tuesday for Travel Tuesday. If not, you can read about that here! That post was sort of the first part to this post.

{Recap}

Garrett and I studied abroad in Italy in college {2007}.

We lived in Florence.

It was wonderful, minus the airlines losing my luggage.

While there, we took day and weekend excursions to places like Cinque Terre.

{Pronounced Cheen-qua Tare} I hope that helped! Cinque Terre means "The Five Lands" and is composed of 5 different villages. There are several walking trails between the five villages, one of them is called the "Love Walk." : )

Y'all, this place was magical. The most picturesque place I have ever seen. Colorful, against the water, and old. It was rainy the day that we were there, but that made it no less beautiful.

Like I said in my last post, I can't imagine the amount of pictures I would take if I could go back there now! I could spend days just photographing everything.

Garrett had a video camera the whole time we were in Italy. He still hasn't edited the clips and put them together, and now I am convinced that he never will, but the clips are fun to look back on.

We did a ton of walking that day, and it was raining pretty hard. I was a genius and wore flip flops, which broke. I got pretty grouchy after that. Then my umbrella broke.

Here's a little clip of the place and of me complaining about my flip flops. I just laughed so hard at this.

And here's the evidence of my broken umbrella. This makes us laugh every time!

Monday, March 25, 2013

If you read yesterday's post, you know how exciting my weekend wasn't.

You know that I am exhibiting 85 year old behavior, at the ripe 'ol age of 26.

But.

If you didn't read yesterday's post...

Our weekend went like this:

1. Settlers of Catan

We played this game 5 times over the weekend. And I lost all 5. I'm going to be honest with you, I am a sore loser. After the last game, I went to our bedroom, shut the door and laid in bed pouting. I didn't help put the game up either.

I have to add this in here so y'all don't think I am really that bad at board games: Previous to these 5 games, I was on a winning streak! Take that! : )

2. Game of Thrones

This is one of Garrett's favorite TV shows/book series.

So, naturally, I got suckered into watching it.

I'm kidding. I actually asked to watch it, starting with season 1.

It's good!

3. Pizza

I cheated, that's not a picture of our pizza, but it's close. Actually none of these pictures are ours, thank you Google Images.

Where is your favorite place to order a pizza from?

I'm not too picky but I do love Papa Johns garlic butter. The fact that they were having a buy one get one free may have swayed my decision a little too.

So, those were the three main components of our weekend.

I'm hoping next weekend the weather is a little better and we can get out and do something fun, though I'm not complaining about board games and pizza.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

B. It' still snowing outside which means I have done nothing productive all weekend and don't have a thing to write about.

As a matter of fact, I just woke up (yes at 3:45pm!) and G is still asleep (at 4:45, just for the record). I decided for sure this weekend that I am 26 going on 85 because all we did was play board games and watch Game of Thrones.

Lucky for you, what I am currently doing is almost just as exciting!

Reading: This post over and over, which right now is a couple of sentences. I swear my brain has turned to mush and I can't think correctly. I'm also reading Meighan's blog so that I can get the order of these things I am currently doing. Hi Meighan!

Writing: This blog post. And I have been doing so since about 4:10. It's 5:10 now. I keep getting distracted by my cats, husband, and thoughts of ordering a pizza for dinner.

Listening: To my cats run wild all over the place, tackling each other, and jumping out and scaring each other. Sweet boys are playful this morning evening. Oh, I'm also hearing my stomach growl.

Thinking: About that pizza I mentioned earlier. And that after I am done writing this post I need to get up and do some serious dish washing. And take the trash out. See smelling below...

Smelling: Ok, y'all, I'm going to be honest here even though this is gross and super embarrassing. Gotta keep things real, right? Currently I am smelling old chicken. When we buy chicken we get a big pack and go ahead and trim the fat off of each piece and freeze each breast in individual bags. Apparently we didn't rinse out the container that the chicken came in well enough because it is stinking up our trash like something fierce.

Wishing: A bunch of things. Top of the list? 1. Vacation 2. Pizza 3. Warmer Weather

Hoping: That I have the motivation this week to keep up with the 5k training app that I just downloaded and that the weather warms up. It's hard to make yourself go run when it's cold outside.

Wearing: Victoria's Secret Pink sweatpants and a Texas Tech Under Armor T-shirt. It's huge on me and super comfortable. It's what I slept in last night.

Loving: That it is Sunday and I get to spend the day with my husband. And that I am ordering a pizza later.

Wanting: If you haven't figured this one out by now then...I'll just say it again. I want pizza! And a big, huge, million dollar shopping spree. Hey, a girl can dream.

Needing: To wash my hair. It feels greasy and it's frizzy. Not a winning combo.

Feeling: Hungry.

Clicking: Back and forth between my blog and Meighan's.

Doesn't my day sound fascinating?

I hope you all had fun weekends! Can't wait to read about them and compare them to my boring weekend and then feel sorry for myself and for my weekend.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Ever since I heard about Helene's Travel Tuesday link up, I wanted to participate.

I read other people's stories about the places they have been, just so I can live vicariously through them.

I love to travel.

Just for the weekend or out of the country, I don't care, just get me outta here!

Luckily my mom has the same travel bug that I do, and as a kid I got to travel quite a bit. My junior year (2004) and senior year (2005) in high school my mom and I, and several others, traveled to Italy for spring break. It was that first trip, my junior year, that I fell in love with Florence, Italy.

Fast forward to 2007, and a crazy study abroad opportunity, and there I was landing in Italy again. But, this time with Garrett!

As much as I am making this sound like the perfect trip, it wasn't.

At first.

When we arrived at baggage claim I was giddy with excitement. We stood at baggage claim for several minutes after the last person had grabbed their bag from the conveyor belt, and my excitement turned into fear.

My bags were lost.

I called my mom from a really complicated pay phone in the airport and cried about my bags being lost and about the lady at the baggage claim desk not understanding anything I was saying. I think it was around 3am in Texas where my mom was, bless her heart!

The funny thing was, during our flight, I kept telling Garrett that I just knew my bags were lost! And I'm not one of those people that says that on every single flight, it was the first time I had had that feeling.

About a week later, and a trip back to the airport, I had my bags. Once hot pink and brand new, they were now covered in black marks and could no longer stand up on their own. Atleast I had my clothes!

Garrett was a much better trooper than I was, one of his bags got lost too but he didn't throw quite the fit that I did. I think it was because it wasn't his main bag and he still had some clothes to wear. Or it was because he handles stressful situations better than me. Either way.

I don't have great pictures to share with you guys. 2007 was before I had a nice camera or a phone that was capable of taking decent pictures. But I'll share the one's that I can find!

G and Ponte Vecchio bridge, which was built in 1345!

Little did I know I'd be marrying this guy in 3 years! Ok, maybe I kinda knew : )

Ponte Vecchio is my favorite place in Florence. It offers a great view of the Arno river as well as shops full of beautiful, and expensive, jewelry. At night there are street performers, mainly musicians, that make it a romantic spot.

See that green grass on the left side of the picture? That was where I dreamed of having my wedding. It's a little event location right on the Arno river. Needless to say, it was pretty much impossible to afford or book. This is looking from the Ponte Vecchio bridge.

Basilica of Santa Croce. Right down the road from our apartment!

We found a restaurant called Alfredo's that we ate at several times. We always asked for the same waiter, and he always gave us free Limoncello!

We also ate at our apartment quite a bit. Standa, a grocery store, had such great fresh breads and meats and cheeses. Ahhh we loved that place! We usually cooked pasta at the apartment and had a candle lit dinner.

While there, we were both enrolled in classes. I took ceramics and cooking classes, Garrett took a film class and a Renaissance architecture class.

I loved the ceramics class but, surprisingly, not the cooking class. I think it was because we had to cook in groups and the people in my group were idiots. I'm not just saying that, I got a C in that class because they said our risotto was done before it was. Idiots. And it was around a 30 minute walk every day to get to the cooking school. If I'm going to be walking 30 minutes worth every day, I want to go exploring!

Yes, I do realize how lucky I was to be able to take a cooking class in Italy. It just wasn't my favorite.

And sadly, that's all of the pictures I could find from this trip to Florence. I know I have some back in Texas in photo albums, I wish I had them on this computer or good 'ol Facebook, but I don't.

I wish like hell I could go back there sometime soon, now that I am older and more appreciative of the age of things and the art available. Especially now that I have a nice camera. Oh the hours I would spend just taking pictures!

Italy gives me a feeling of peace and happiness that I have never felt in America. I know that sounds stupid and weird, but it's true. I miss it. A ton.